Want A Career In Asset Management? Read This First

When it comes to who the hedge fund and mutual fund shops across the country choose to hire, not all college degrees are created equal. According to recently released report from alternative fund database house eVestment, the likelihood of graduates snagging coveted jobs in the asset management field largely depends on the academic halls they emerged from.

eVestment gathered alma mater information from over 35,000 investment analysts and portfolio managers who graduated after 2010 and are employed by some 4,500 mutual funds and hedge funds spanning the country.

Undergrads from the University of Pennsylvania, MBA alums from University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, and those who earned diplomas in 2010 or later from Columbia University stood greater chances at landing asset management jobs, eVestment found. (For related reading, see: 5 Top Business Schools In America.)

Pointedly, Penn’s esteemed Wharton School (both for MBA and undergrads), spawned 1,101 asset management workers – the highest number of combined alumni holding jobs at Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GS), BlackRock Inc. (BLK), Pacific Investment Management Co. (PIMCO) and other industry stalwarts. But Penn’s lead appears to be slipping; while it was the highest asset management seeder practically every year from 1960 to 2004, the University of Chicago owned that honor from 2005 to 2009, and Columbia did so from 2010 to 2014.

Unsurprisingly, Ivy League schools showed well. But non-Ivy League schools did well, too. Boston College placed in the top 10 for total alums and took sixth place when the data factored in undergraduate degrees alone. BC placed seventh when ranked by school size. Incidentally, U.S. News & World Report ranked BC 31st overall. Another notable non-Ivy League performer was Lehigh University, ranking ninth for undergraduate degrees when scaled by school size. Lehigh was ranked 41st overall by U.S. News & World Report. (For related reading, see: Prestigious Colleges With The Lowest Tuition.)

Finally, eVestment also looked at schools with a focus on investment products to learn that Harvard University topped the list for American hedge funds, trailed by the University of Chicago and Penn. Conversely, Penn took first for U.S. equities, trailed by Harvard and Chicago. Penn likewise led the pack for U.S. fixed income, followed by Chicago and New York University.

A list of rankings by overall numbers, size-adjusted, and MBA grads, are as follows: